Suspect in cop killing pleads guilty

[Resident Smart Ass]

<H1 class=red>Suspect in cop killing pleads guilty

</H1>Alleged gang member said shot was intended for one of his rivals

Friday, January 04, 2008 BY WILLIAM KLEINKNECHT

Star-Ledger Staff
A reputed member of the Bloods street gang yesterday admitted to the shotgun slaying of an Orange police detective, telling the judge he thought he was firing at a criminal out to kill him.
Raynard Brown, 20, pleaded guilty in Superior Court in Newark to murder and two weapons charges stemming from the 2006 killing of Detective Kieran Shields on Taylor Street in Orange. In exchange for his guilty plea, Assistant Essex County Prosecutor Gregory DeMattia agreed to recommend Judge Betty Lester sentence Brown to no more than 40 years in prison. The sentence is to run concurrently with a 14-year term he is already serving for robbery. If convicted at trial, Brown faced life in prison without parole. Under the plea bargain, he will be eligible for parole at age 54. Lester set sentencing for Feb. 21.
Shields, 32, was killed on Aug. 7, 2006, while responding to reports of shots fired. When he arrived at the scene -- in plainclothes with a badge hanging around his neck -- a witness directed him to the rear of 170-172 Taylor St., a dilapidated home frequented by squatters and drug users. Brown, lurking inside the rear door of the home, fired on the officer before he reached the porch, striking him in the neck and collarbone, just above his bulletproof vest. The officer was pronounced dead at University Hospital in Newark.
The son of a retired Orange police officer, Shields was widely respected by his peers and "was a loving person," Orange Police Director Arik Webster said at a news conference after the plea. "He was more than just a co-worker. He was family, he was a brother."
Brown appeared in court with his hands shackled to his waist and another chain binding his feet. He was surrounded by state corrections officers who brought him from New Jersey State Prison in Trenton, where he is serving the 14-year sentence for the April 2005 armed robbery of a woman on Taylor Street. Shields took the victim's statement in that case. In issuing his plea, Brown said he fired at Shields from the porch without knowing he was a police officer. He said he was in the middle of a running gun battle with a rival hoodlum, Earl Downey, and was on the back porch hiding when he heard the sound of someone coming toward him. "I seen a weapon coming toward me and I came out and opened fire," he told Lester. "Who did you shoot?" Lester asked. "I shot the police officer," he said. Brown told the judge that his dispute with Downey, who he referred to as Snipe, began the day before Shields' murder. He said Downey came to his home at 160 Hickory St., around the corner from Taylor Street, and threatened his family. "He whipped out a weapon on my girl and children," he said. The next day, he said, he was sitting on his front porch and saw Downey and others walking down the street in his direction. He said he went inside, fetched the shotgun and sat on the porch waiting for them. He said he shot and injured Downey only after the other man pointed a gun at him. Brown and his lawyer, John McMahon, told the judge he pursued Downey and was lying in wait for him on the back porch. They said he thought he was firing at Downey when he pulled the trigger. "Subsequently, he learned it was the police officer," McMahon said. "He thought he was shooting at someone else."

http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey...650.xml&coll=1

[Frankenstein]

In exchange for his guilty plea, Assistant Essex County Prosecutor Gregory DeMattia agreed to recommend Judge Betty Lester sentence Brown to no more than 40 years in prison. The sentence is to run concurrently with a 14-year term he is already serving for robbery.

Wow, 40 years for a cold-blooded murder of a police officer. And that's only if the judge sentences him to the full term. What a joke.

[countybear]

Fucking pathetic.

[Resident Smart Ass]

Fucking pathetic.

that's New Jersey for you

[Probation13-901]

It's bunch of bullshit I can't believe he will ever be able to see the light of day. At the very leased make him serve both of his sentences not be able to serve them concurrent.

[10-42Adam]

That's some bullshit. If it were up to me I'd sentence him to the death penalty faster then he could ever imagine.